Tuesday, Apr. 16, 2013

Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Tuesday april 16, 2013 vol. cxxxvii no. 45

WEATHER

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } HIGH

LOW

71˚ 56˚

B O S T O N M A R AT H O N

All known U. affiliates in Boston Marathon confirmed safe

Partly cloudy skies and evening thundershowers. chance of rain:

20 percent

Follow us on Twitter @princetonian

In Opinion William Beacom considers how the University can foster healthy debate and intellectual freedom, and Aaron Applbaum argues that some of the best parts of Princeton are in the details. PAGE 4

Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.: The Princeton Tory is hosting a lecture by political scientist Charles Murray entitled “Coming Apart at the Seams: America’s New Cultural Divide.” Whig Senate Chamber.

The Archives

April 16, 1976 The Student Housing Office corrects an error that resulted in the withholding of too many rooms from this year’s room draw.

On the Blog Merrill Fabry and Sean Pan photograph the arrival of spring on campus.

On the Blog Contributing writer Jeff Liu reviews Justin Timberlake’s new album, “The 20/20 Experience.”

News & Notes

By Daily Princetonian Staff All University students, faculty, staff and alumni who were known to have been in Boston for the Boston Marathon on Monday are safe, an email sent Monday night through the University’s emergency notification system on behalf of Vice President for Campus Life Cynthia Cherrey confirmed.

The Daily Princetonian has confirmed the safety of 20 community members who ran, watched or registered for the marathon.

At around 2:50 p.m., more than four hours into the race, two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three people and injuring more than

130, the Associated Press reported.

No current members of the track & field team were running the Boston Marathon today.

Stephanie Iantorno ’13, who finished the Marathon Monday before the explosions, is confirmed safe.

Joe Corkery ‘98, Raj Hathiramani ’07, Emily Reynolds ’11, Adam Rubin ’10, Christopher Sallade ’94 and Kelley Sternhagen ’11 ran in the marathon earlier today and are confirmed safe.

Rubin is a former senior sports writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Psychology research assistant Kathryn Dwyer and Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services at the Office of Information Technology Donna Tatro, who also ran in the marathon on

Monday, are confirmed safe.

Donn Cabral ’12, who ran the Boston Athletic Association’s invitational mile earlier Monday morning, is confirmed safe.

Coordinator of track & field operations Michael Henderson, Tyler King ’12, Sarah Cummings ’11, Mike Eddy ’11, Bianca Mathabane ’11, Hollis Barber ’11, Michael Craig ’11, Sonya Bishop ’10 and Jonathan Charlesworth ’07, who were spectators at the marathon earlier today, are confirmed safe.

Politics department chair Nolan McCarty was registered for the marathon but did not run and is confirmed safe at home in Princeton.

In her email, Cherrey said campus officials had reached out to members

4.16news FOR LUC.indd 1

Sports senior writer Adam Fisch, senior news writer Monica Chon, Sports Editor Stephen Wood, Managing Editor Emily Tseng and Editor-in-Chief Luc Cohen contributed reporting.

LOCAL NEWS

ACADEMICS

By Loully Saney

Four U. faculty members receive Guggenheim

PHS attendance examined staff writer

Princeton High School permitted a “significant” portion of students to graduate from the high school in spite of a high number of undocumented absences, a state investigation concluded last Monday. District staff also made adjustments to transcripts by hand to show that students had received credit for classes for which credit had been initially denied due to an excessive number of absences.

The investigation stemmed from allegations made last fall against the high school for distorting records.

In many cases, the high school was not able to provide documentation to warrant the waiving of attendance requirements, according to a summary of the investigation released last Monday by the state Department of Education’s Office for Fiscal Accountability and Compliance.

The OFAC investigation reviewed attendance records for over 1,350 students’ records, and approximately 130 were ex-

amined closely in order to determine that students had met the attendance requirements for graduation.

The investigators reported that a sampling of 60 students, with 15 students from each of the four graduating classes, held 12th grade attendance records that conflicted with the official school policy.

The high school did not produce documentation verifying that attendance waivers had been granted to each student who graduated with excessive absences See RECORDS page 2

U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S

New calendar shortens orientation

By Jean-Carlos Arenas contributor

Freshman orientation will be a day shorter next year as a result of the changes to Thanksgiving break the University faculty unanimously approved at a previous meeting on April 1. This abridgment of freshman orientation is the re-

sult of the start of classes being pushed one day earlier, from Thursday, Sept. 12 to Wednesday, Sept. 11.

Pre-orientation activities will remain unaffected. International Orientation will remain scheduled for Aug. 28–31, according to Director of the Davis International Center Jacqueline Leighton.

Outdoor Action and Community Action will also remain unaffected and will take place from Sept. 1 to Sept. 6.

Freshman orientation events will be affected minimally, according to Senior Associate Dean of the College Claire Fowler. “It used to be, until several years ago, that we used to need Wednesday

to do course registration,” she explained. “We realized we can do course selections all on Tuesday, but Wednesday was just left on the freshman orientation calendar. It was doable to cut Wednesday out.”

The few events that would have taken place on Wednesday will be rescheduled to occur See BREAK page 3

BEAT OF THE DRUM

NJ Transit tightens security in response to Boston Marathon bombing

new jersey transit announced a “heightened state of alert” in response to the fatal bombing that occurred at the Boston Marathon on Monday according to the company’s Twitter feed. Major police departments throughout New Jersey have also raised their alert levels, The Star-Ledger reported.

“While there has been no specific threat made to our transit system at this time, NJ Transit police have deployed both uniformed and plainclothed officers to further patrol our system and keep our customers safe,” NJ Transit spokesman John Durso, Jr. wrote in a press release.

Two explosions that occurred less than a mile from the race’s finish line killed at least three people and injured over a hundred others on Monday. The race was promptly halted and five additional undetonated explosive devices were found in the area.

In response to the attack, police departments in New York and Washington, D.C. reacted quickly to tighten security.

of the University community who were known to have been in the Boston area on Monday.

“So far, we have not received any reports of any members of the University community who might have been harmed,” Cherrey said in the email.

Cherrey added that representatives of several departments had met to discuss the situation, including the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, University Health Services and the Office of Athletics and that the University would continue to monitor developments.

ALVINA JIAO :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Students participate in a two-hour afrobeat workshop with the Zongo Junction band from Brooklyn, N.Y. STUDENT LIFE

By Austin Lee staff writer

Four members of the Princeton faculty were named among the 173 Guggenheim Fellows of 2013 on April 11.

History of science professor D. Graham Burnett, visual arts lecturer Deana Lawson, visiting lecturer in creative writing David Rosenberg and D. GRAHAM creative writing lecturer Col- BURNETT son Whitehead were awarded History the fellowship to pursue various projects, both academic and artistic, over the course of the coming year.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s fellowship provides scholars or artists already established in their fields, chosen from a pool of nearly 3,000 COLSON applicants, with grants last- WHITEHEAD ing from six to 12 months to Fiction provide the fellows with time for creative exploration, according to the Foundation’s website.

Burnett will spend the coming year looking at both the scientific study of vision and the aesthetic response to works of art as he continues working on his book “Mind- DAVID ing the Eye.” He explained ROSENBERG that his goal is to combine Non-fiction his experience in the study of the history of science with an interest in visual arts that he developed while working as an editor at Cabinet, an art magazine.

“For the last few years, I’ve been working at the intersection of the history of science and the visual arts,” Burnett DEANA said. “[My book is] largely LAWSON about sensory physiology of Photography vision and people’s experience of works of art.”

With the time and resources provided by this fellowship, Burnett said he hopes to devote even more time to working on his research.

In particular, Burnett said he hopes to refine See FELLOWSHIP page 3

ACADEMICS

USG changes elections schedule Junior paper of Joe-Wong ’11 to become cellular industry start-up

By Anna Mazarakis staff writer

The USG changed the schedule of its spring elections to extend the campaign period from one week to two weeks, the USG announced on its website.

The schedule for USG elections changed this year in order to give candidates more time to campaign, students more time to learn about the issues and the election managers more time to ensure that all aspects of the election are in line with the Elections Handbook, chief elections

manager Rachel Nam ’15 said.

The other elections managers are U-Councilor Sarah Wiley ’13 and University Student Life Committee chair Greg Smith ’15.

The first change to the schedule extended the campaign period from one week to two weeks, starting on the first day of registration, which was last Sunday, April 7.

“Before, there was only one week of campaigning, and we thought that a lot of students found it very stressful to cram it all into one week,” Nam said. “So we lengthened it to See COUNCIL page 3

By Angela Wang staff writer

Two years after graduation, the junior paper of Carlee Joe-Wong ’11 on smartphone data usage and pricing is expanding into a start-up company. As a current Ph.D. candidate in the applied and computational mathematics department at the University, Joe-Wong has partnered with companies in the cellular industry to conduct consumer trials that could change the way data is priced for smartphones and mobile devices.

In the spring of 2010, Joe-Wong began independent junior research with electrical engineering professor Mung Chiang to develop a time-dependent pricing algorithm for broadband usage.

“You have to do optimization for the prices. You have to do machine learning of the usage behavior by the individuals and apps. You have to look at feedback control in different time scales,” Chiang said of the project. “For an undergraduate to take on something new, that was very challenging, both See MOBILE page 3

4/16/13 12:08 AM

The Daily Princetonian

page 2

News & Notes

MAKING MUSIC

Students play a variety of instruments as they engage in an Afrobeat master class on Monday afternoon. All instrumentalists were welcome to join and non-musicians were allowed to watch or join in on hand percussion instruments if interested.

State investigation reveals amendments, omissions RECORDS Continued from page 1

.............

or that, in cases where waivers were granted, that each waiver was properly assigned, the report said.

Princeton Public Schools Board of Education’s attendance policy denies credit to students who have received a passing grade in a course but have missed class 18 times or more in a full-year course, nine times or more in a semester course and four times or more in a quarter course, according to the report. In order to appeal a credit loss, students may submit a written explanation or documentation for the unverified absences.

The Princeton Public Schools Board of Education released a statement regarding the OFAC Report on high school attendance records last Monday explaining that the report, which reviewed student records be-

4.16news FOR LUC.indd 2

Tuesday april 16, 2013

tween 2008 and 2012, did not support the anonymous accusation made last fall, that the high school omitted or altered poor attendance statistics in the electronic data management system in order to permit unqualified students to graduate.

The statement expressed agreement with the OFAC’s recommendation for the district to adopt a standardized form for all attendance appeals. However, the board held that the investigation only focused on records for fewer than 12 students and denied amending any attendance records.

“It must be clearly and firmly stated that never once were any student records altered in any way,” the statement read. “PHS pupils are known well by their teachers, their counselors, their nurses and their administrators. Every credit, every grade and every attendance pattern were specifically documented and addressed by our staff.”

The school board ascribed discordances in records for the 200809 academic year to a changeover to new record-keeping software in the attendance office.

Princeton High School Principal Gary Snyder and Assistant Principal Harvey Highland both declined to comment beyond what was provided in the press release on the OFAC report.

Rachel Klebanov ’16, a graduate of Princeton High School, said that she believes students should not be given “special treatment” where their excessive absences can be cleared if they are in high academic standing. Klebanov said that the number of absences necessary before credit is denied in a course is a large number and that no one should reach the point where academic standing is used as a justification to disregard a large number of absences. Klebanov noted her desire for a “uniform” policy to evalu-

ate attendance appeals.

Lena Sun ’16, also a graduate of the high school, said that while she was a student, there were times in which she did not have documentation for an absence when she was either on a school trip or home sick, and after explaining her situation, staff in the attendance office would simply verify the absence.

“Princeton High School treats its students like adults. They give us the benefit of the doubt,” Sun said.

Sun said that providing documentation for every absence is a “long, arduous process.” She explained that for school trips where the absence note must be signed by every teacher in addition to a parent, it was “such a hassle” to get all necessary signatures. As a result, going into the attendance office the next day and simply explaining her situation verbally was much easier.

“I felt my word was respected,” she said.

USG announces candidates for U-Council and class government positions forty-three students are running for U-Council and class government positions this spring, according to the USG’s website.

Eighteen students are running for the 10 U-Councilor positions. The candidates include Tumise Asebiomo ’16, Zach Atkins ’16, Mallory Banks ’16, Olivia BradleySkill ’16, Jameil Brown ’16, Katherine Clifton ’15, Azza Cohen ’16, Laura Du ’14, James Evans ’16, Daniel Johnson ’15, Karen Ku ’16, Elan Kugelmass ’14, Kabo Kula ’16, Dallas Nan ’16, Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15, Hansen Qian ’16, Paul Riley ’15 and YiFan Zhu ’15.

Evans and Johnson are staff writers for The Daily Princetonian. Banks is a writer for the Street section, and Ku is a staff photographer.

All of the positions for 2014 Class Government are uncontested. Luchi Mmegwa will be president, Dylan Ackerman will be vice president, Sophia Deng will be treasurer, Mary D’Onofrio will be secretary and Cameron Henneberg will be social chair.

All of the positions for 2015 Class Government are also uncontested. Jon Ma will be president, Samisha Bansal will be vice president, Cordelia Orillac will be treasurer and Yeri Lee will be secretary. There are

no candidates for social chair.

According to chief elections manager Rachel Nam ’15, the 2015 Class Government will send out an application to members of the Class of 2015 for the social chair position after the elections are over, and the elected members of the council will conduct interviews and appoint someone to the position. Three out of the four officers must vote to confirm the appointment of the social chair.

Four out of the five 2016 Class Government positions are also uncontested. Justin Ziegler will be president, Richard Lu will be treasurer, Priya Krishnan will be secretary and Molly Stoneman will be social chair. Gwen Lee and Daniel Chen will run against each other for vice president.

There is competition for each of the four 2013 Alumni Class Government positions. Stefan Kende and Anthony Pappenfus are running for president; Zach Beecher, Chris Palermo and Britt Sanders are running for vice president; Megan Karande and Jason Ramirez are running for treasurer; and Lily Alberts, George Maliha and Olivia Panaccio Tresham are running for secretary.

Sanders is a former chair of the Editorial Board, and Alberts is a columnist.

Voting begins Monday, April 22, at 12 p.m.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Daily Princetonian is published daily except Saturday and Sunday from September through May and three times a week during January and May by The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., 48 University Place, Princeton, N.J. 08540. Mailing address: P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542. Subscription rates: Mailed in the United States $175.00 per year, $90.00 per semester. Office hours: Sunday through Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Telephones: Business: 609-375-8553; News and Editorial: 609-258-3632. For tips, email news@dailyprincetonian.com. Reproduction of any material in this newspaper without expressed permission of The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc., is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2013, The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Princetonian, P.O. Box 469, Princeton, N.J. 08542.

4/16/13 12:09 AM

The Daily Princetonian

Tuesday april 16, 2013

Scholars to work on creative projects FELLOWSHIP Continued from page 1

.............

his work into more of an argumentative work.

Rosenberg will work on his memoir, “A Life in a Poem: Memoir of a Rebellious Bible Translator,” a project in which he said he hopes to recount his work translating the Bible and the difficulties that accompanied the challenge. In particular, Rosenberg said he saw this project as a way to examine how he survived the world with his self intact, facing the various roles and responsibilities that have been given to him as well as the failures that he experienced throughout his life. “[To write a memoir] you have to reach a point in your life when you feel that ‘how you go there’ how you got to be 50, is not a question of I did this

and I did that,” Rosenberg said.

“It’s about how did you survive internally with your sensibility intact? How did you survive this onslaught of all these cultural things that people demand of you in these roles?”

In the process of writing his memoir, Rosenberg said he hopes to take the time offered by this fellowship to travel to some of the significant places in his life, including Jerusalem, where he lived in the early 1980s while working on his Bible translation.

Burnett, Rosenberg and Lawson all declined to comment on the amount of the monetary award they each received.

Whitehead could not be reached for comment by press time.

Lawson, a photographer interested in environmental portraiture, will be using her fellowship to travel to a set of sites that have a shared ancestral memory. She will use the

page 3

WOMEN WHO MADE AMERICA

fellowship to travel to Jamaica, Haiti; some locations in the deep South in the United States; and a country in Africa that she has not yet determined.

Her photography projects are works of environmental portraiture in which she photographs people in their everyday environment. Her project funded by the Guggenheim award will focus on “ancestral memory and how it’s seen through the body, whether it be through dance religious practices, how one decorates their home or their style.”

Lawson has taught photography courses at the University since fall 2012 and will continue to teach next fall. Her trips to the countries of her work will each last about one to two months, and she plans to schedule her travel to make use of vacation times in the University’s academic calendar.

Phone companies conducting trials MOBILE

Continued from page 1

.............

in the math involved and the creative concepts involved.”

In the course of the project, Joe-Wong developed a pricing algorithm that could be used by operators to reduce the amount of data usage during peak usage periods and reduce congestion.

Other industries, such as transportation and utilities, adjust prices depending on the time of day, but the idea had never been applied to the smartphone industry, Chiang explained.

The completion of Joe-Wong’s junior paper did not mark the end of this project’s development. Post-doctorate fellows in Chiang’s lab built upon JoeWong’s work to create a simulation and implementation plan in the following year. A trial was conducted at the University in 2011 and included participation by 50 faculty and staff to see if the algorithm would be effective, according to Joe-Wong.

Participants in the study were asked to install a mobile application on their smartphones.

Half the participants would be able to see how much data they used to keep track of data usage, and the other half would see a time-dependent pricing model on the application, according to which they would be charged.

The scientists conducting the trial then analyzed how usage

patterns were affected and how much data usage was shifted from the busiest peak periods, she explained.

“This is excellent work. There has been a lot of theoretical work done in the area, but the work that Carlee and Mung have done — that is very clever.”

Krishan Sabnani senior vice president of networking research laboratory at bell labs Using his connections with colleagues in cellular companies, Chiang said he convinced company representatives in early 2012 to conduct their own trials on the basis of Joe-Wong’s junior paper. AT&T, Indian Internet service provider Reliance Communications and Alaskan ISP Matanuska Telephone Association are currently conducting trials.

“This is excellent work. There has been a lot of theoretical work done in the area, but the work

that Carlee and Mung have done — that is very clever,” senior vice president of the Networking Research Laboratory at Bell Labs Krishnan Sabnani said.

“It’s a very elegant solution.”

Joe-Wong, Chiang and other researchers part of the Datami team, a project of the University’s EDGE laboratory, have been working to launch the project as a start-up company called Datami, of which Joe-Wong is a co-founder. The commercialization process will depend on the results of the various trials, she said.

“At Princeton, I would say it still remains not as common a thing to see a research project going from fundamental research, mathematical research all the way to deployment and then commercialization and creation of a start-up within a short span of three years,” Chiang said.

Joe-Wong predicts that it would take smaller operators a couple of years to implement the algorithms and larger operators at least five years.

“Because this is such a novel idea in the pricing sphere, I think it would probably face some opposition, and it would take some time,” she said.

Joe-Wong’s most recent work, which elaborated on her junior paper and was co-written with Soumya Sen, was published in the academic journal IEEE Communications in November 2012.

Extra week added for campaigning COUNCIL Continued from page 1

.............

two weeks and also that again gives them more time to get to really know the voters and for the voters to get to know the candidates better.”

As usual, the candidates gathered signatures for their petitions during the course of last week. They were then also allowed to campaign while asking students to sign petitions.

The second change to the schedule was to the start and end dates of registration.

In the past, the USG would announce the election on a Monday, and students interested in running for office would begin to collect signatures that day and have until the following Sunday to submit petitions. The new schedule initiates registration on a Sunday and gives students until Saturday to collect enough signatures and fill out the candidate registration form.

“One of the core goals of USG this year is to be accountable, so I wanted to make sure the election managers had ample time to review the petitions and make sure that all the information that we would release to the public would be accurate, and we wouldn’t run into any lastminute errors or run the risk of presenting inaccurate information because we didn’t have enough time,” Nam said.

Nam said she had plenty of time with the new schedule to look over each of the petitions

4.16news FOR LUC.indd 3

and double-check that every petition had all of the necessary components before sending the information to USG president Shawon Jackson ’15 for publication on the USG’s website Sunday.

“I feel more confident that what I’m going to present to

“My inclination is that the two-week campaign period will be good in that things are more spaced out.”

Shawon Jackson ‘15 usg president

the undergraduate student body is accurate and reliable information,” she said.

The changes to the schedule have not deterred students from running for office. According to Nam, 18 students filled out petitions for UCouncilor this year, which is more than the 12 students who ran last year and the 16 who ran the year before under the timeline of the old schedule.

Each of the positions for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Class Governments — president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and social chair — are uncon-

tested in this election with the exception of the Class of 2016 vice president, which has two candidates, and the Class of 2015 social chair, which does not have a candidate.

Since registration ended last Saturday, April 13, the candidates will now have another week to campaign before voting starts on April 22 at 12 p.m.

“My inclination is that the two-week campaign period will be good in that things are more spaced out,” Jackson said. “At the same time though, I definitely understand that people who are running for maybe a competitive spot have to constantly be thinking about it for a few weeks. So it’s kind of good and bad, depending on how conscientious a person is.”

The change in the registration start and end dates have not yet been made to the Elections Handbook, and Nam said the decision regarding whether to implement the change permanently will come after the election finishes and the senate can debrief on the positives and negatives of the changed schedule.

MALENA DE LA FUENTE :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Betsy West, associate professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, delivered a lecture entitled “MAKERS: Women Who Make America” at Dodds Auditorium on Monday.

Fall classes to start a day earlier BREAK

Continued from page 1

.............

during other days during freshman orientation. “The Way You Move,” a play sponsored by the Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education Program and the Residential Education Program, will be moved from its usual Wednesday time slot to Tuesday, Fowler said.

In addition, Labyrinth Books will be open late on the Tuesday before classes start to accommodate for the lost day of freshman orientation that students would otherwise have had to purchase books, she said.

Starting classes a day earlier will ensure students have the opportunity to attend all of their classes the first week of school, which will give them a sense of how they like

their classes, Fowler said. However, the add/drop deadline will also be moved a day earlier, Fowler added.

The decision to remove a day from freshman orientation in the event that Thanksgiving break were to be changed was discussed prior to the official change, according to OA Director Rick Curtis ’79.

The Orientation and Implementation Committee, coordinated by Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Maria Flores-Mills, met throughout the year and discussed recommendations for what would be the best course of action if the calendar did in fact change, Curtis said.

Flores-Mills explained that there were a lot of factors that went into the decision to remove the last day from freshman orientation.

“Most of it was based on the fact that the two pre-orientation pro-

grams, Outdoor Action and Community Action, had already put out their dates to the students who were admitted through Early Action,” Flores-Mills explained. “And in order to particularly with Outdoor Action recalibrate routes for about 80 to 100 individual trips from five-day trips to four-day trips would have been an enormous undertaking in a short period of time.”

Bringing students to campus a day earlier was also considered, Flores-Mills added, but logistically it proved to be nearly impossible.

A USG survey conducted in 2011 indicated that the majority of undergraduates were in favor of including Wednesday in Thanksgiving break.

“I’m glad we were able to try out a calendar change that was so overwhelmingly popular with the undergraduates,” Fowler said.

PHOTOS!

Visit our website to view photos and purchase copies! photo.dailyprincetonian.com

4/16/13 12:09 AM

Opinion

William Beacom columnist

Our reputation

Tuesday april 16, 2013

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com }

The small things

S

usan Patton uncovered my greatest fear. One day, I will grow old. My ideas and dispositions will be outmoded, and the younger generation will ridicule me as antiquated and intellectually feeble. My best intentions will elicit scoffs. With a bit of alcohol over a Thanksgiving meal, my grandchildren will cringe and wince at my proud exclamations. I just hope that, unlike Ms. Patton, I won’t unwittingly put myself in a position to have my family and myself humiliated by the international media.

As the flaws of her argument are clear to anyone versed in the current language of gender equality, I wish I could easily dismiss the letter, but she has done irreparable damage to Princeton’s reputation. And, in doing so, the letter raises a broader question about how the people and organizations related to the University impact our public image.

Patton’s letter is problematic because almost every major news outlet has a preponderance of Ivy League grads on payroll and even the most inane events at Ivy League schools receive a disproportionate amount of press. (At times, it seemed Patton was being attacked more than the segregated proms in Wilcox County, Georgia). As the media is quick to pick up on the juicy details that add to the narrative of Princeton as backward and bigoted, the University is in constant tension between attempting to hide some of the less favorable opinions expressed by its related actors (such as alumni and student organizations) and respecting their freedom of speech.

The Patton letter is just one example of many.

It is no secret that Princeton has a rather embarrassing track record on race and gender equality. Much of Princeton’s recent administrative vision, however, has been focused on setting precedent — on being on the right side of history, particularly with respect to LGBT and socioeconomic diversity. Unsurprisingly, this rather concerted push conflicts with Princeton’s more traditional elements, particularly in its support of student groups of all different beliefs and motives.

The disconnect between the administration’s vision for Princeton and the actual campus dialogue rose to the surface at the Every Voice Conference for LGBT Alumni this past weekend. The first conference of its kind at Princeton, it certainly had celebrating a group of alumni likely unacknowledged by Princeton’s less than tolerant history in mind. The underlying tension rose to the surface when a participant asked a panel if the relative success of groups like the Anscombe Society at Princeton hamper the administration’s efforts to maintain a safe environment for LGBT students. I was pleased to hear the current and first openly gay Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony Romero ’87, answer that freedom of speech is as much a right as LGBT equality and that college is a place for the exchange and confrontation of different ideas. He said he himself liked to take pictures with anti-gay protestors, introduce himself as gay and working for the ACLU and tell them he fought for them to have the right to hold “F*** BURN IN HELL” signs. A proud alum, he claimed that Princeton was one of the few elite universities in the country to allow groups to form freely on campus irrespective of conflict with explicit University ambitions, especially in contrast with Harvard. According to The Daily Princetonian, a consortium at Princeton last year found that conservative students feel intellectually safe, even if the Princeton administration has a more liberal outlook and faculty composition. If we find our “conservative Ivy” reputation sometimes uncomfortable, strength in intellectual diversity could be a more appealing point of pride.

However, the more Romero talked about Princeton, the less I was convinced. He spoke in hypotheticals about students debating over meals in Mathey dining hall, where they would sharpen their intellects and opinions with their diverse classmates. It all sounded a little fantastical; I’ve found that Princetonians, a remarkably apolitical and non-confrontational bunch, avoid contentious discussions like these and show extreme discomfort whenever their opinions are challenged. It is a bit of a surreal experience to have attended a school famed for the Anscombe Society without ever having knowingly met a member. Romero seems a little too optimistic about how freedom of speech works at Princeton.

It seemed more like an area for improvement.

Even so, asserting free speech can come at the expense of our reputation — at least, the reputation the administration would like to foster. With the first Preview weekend fresh in our minds, our appearance to the outside world comes into sharper focus. Will prefrosh pick the university associated with Patton? Would LGBT prefrosh ever pick Princeton — with its “conservative” reputation in mind — over another equally reputable school? Our simplistic reputation is frustratingly important in our recruitment.

For the most part, I think the University has been skillful and stands apart from the rest in how it navigates this kind of tricky territory. Patton has had her time to shine, but Tilghman did not hesitate to retort that Princeton is “not a marriage bureau.” Groups espousing “traditional” forms of relationships are given their fair space, but Princeton has become, according to the site Campus Pride, one of the institutionally strongest universities in the nation for LGBT rights. A more concerted effort toward maintaining a healthy internal dialogue, while projecting a more cohesive and favorable outward image, is hard work but important. Princeton should cherish its reputation for intellectual freedom while working continuously to minimize the overhang of our questionable past.

William Beacom is a sophomore from Calgary, Canada.

He can be reached at wbeacom@princeton.edu.

opinion.4.16.upstairs.indd 2

page 4

Aaron Applbaum columnist

O

ne of my younger brother’s closest friends attended the prefrosh weekend, and I took it upon myself to show him around a little bit. In attempting to explain to him why this school ought to be his obvious choice, it dawned on me that some of the most exciting aspects of this place exist in the fine details — the little things. A massive endowment, small class sizes, a talented peer group and dedicated alumni are surely the core of Princeton, and certainly the most convincing aspects, but all the things that got “my” prefrosh interested were the small things.

Food makes people happy, and access to good food makes people very happy. There is a little, low-ceilinged room where students go to play board games and drink tea and where some students bake fresh cookies for the other students.

This is, of course, Murray-Dodge. Murray-Dodge is free and even hosts weekly sing-along events. For freshmen and sophomores, built into their University meal plans, are two opportunities to snack at the Frist Campus Center — late meal. Food after lunch and then again after dinner sounds a bit gluttonous, but late meal serves as a social venue as much as it does an opportunity to eat.

I have not yet formulated a coherent opinion on whether the residential college system is a successful model for lower-classman living, though I can say that the frequent study breaks and food-oriented social venues are good. As a student gets older, the residential college provides her with a different set of entertainment, usually

in the form of a wine or beer night.

The University also cares that we are constantly entertained, that no moment is left too dull. Throughout the campus, there are ubiquitous pool tables, pianos, television sets and computers peppering the University’s public spaces, and all of these elements combine to provide students with the opportunity of endless engagement.

Princeton makes sure that the practical aspects of living an organized school-life are in place. The TigerApps application series is very well-done. ICE is a very powerful tool for logging and organizing classes of interest and disseminates important information about those classes. The housing one was also very helpful, though not fully up-todate, in navigating the room draw process. The map application becomes less relevant as students become more acquainted with the Princeton campus but is very useful in looking up the office locations of professors. Laundry is free and never too far of a walk away.

These aspects are generally overlooked by prospective students and prefrosh, as they are less important than the education itself, but in considering Princeton, it is important to remember that the attention to detail is tremendous and makes the experience all the more fun. Princeton really does have its students' best interests in mind and bends over backwards to make us comfortable.

The University is not perfect, however. There is, of course, a flip-side to this.

In paying hyper-attention to the small details of student life, the University administration can get a bit paternalistic in overextending itself into the lives of the student body. The ban on freshman Greek life is an example of this. When the University pays too much attention,

vol. cxxxvii

Luc Cohen ’14

it ends up trying to engineer things that, perhaps, ought to be left alone, to the natural order of social interactions.

In other respects, Princeton pays too little attention to crucial details and can improve. There are some perplexing oversights that could certainly be remedied and would make a tremendous difference. The first one that comes to mind is the undergraduate advising system. I love the classes I have taken here, but that was the product of scouring the course guide, reading hundreds of descriptions and a painstaking week or two of class-shopping each semester. An advising system that clearly lays out the requirements, prerequisites and must-take-professors would be very helpful. The University assigns professors to do this job — it is always wonderful to get one-on-one time with professors — but are they the most qualified people to advise students on administrative requirements?

Another detail that the University can pay more attention to, related to the first, is the SCORE website. I have always found it difficult to use and unpredictable. Surely there is another secure platform the University can look into.

What makes this place so special, in addition to the traditional brochure-enforced aspects, is that it really cares. The University is on the same team as the students. Princeton invests in our daily happiness and comfort in addition to spending tremendous amounts of money sending us to remote places to conduct senior thesis research. The little things in aggregate enhance the Princeton experience and never get the limelight for doing so.

Aaron Applbaum is a Wilson School major from Oakland, Calif. He can be reached at applbaum@princeton.edu.

Sweet dreams ryan budnick ’16

..................................

editor-in-chief

Grace Riccardi ’14

business manager

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 vice presidents John G. Horan ’74 Thomas E. Weber ’89 secretary Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 treasurer Michael E. Seger ’71 Craig Bloom ’88 Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Richard P. Dzina, Jr. ’85 William R. Elfers ’71 John G. Horan ’74 Kathleen Kiely ’77 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Betsy J. Minkin ’77 Jerry Raymond ’73 Carol Rigolot h ’51 h ’70 Annalyn Swan ’73 Douglas Widmann ’90

137TH BUSINESS BOARD business manager Grace Riccardi ’14 director of national advertising Nick Hu ’15 director of campus/local adversting Harold Li ’15 director of web advertising Matteo Kruijssen ’16 director of recruitment advertising Zoe Zhang ’16 director of operations Elliot Pearl-Sacks ’15 comptroller Kevin Tang ’16 director of subscriptions Elon Packin ’15

NIGHT STAFF 4.15.13 news Monica Chon ’15 Jean-Carlos Arenas ’16 copy Julie Aromi ’15 Elizabeth Dolan ’16 Eunice Lee ’16 William Lee ’16 Seth Merkin Morokoff ’16 Dennis Yi ’16 Jean-Carlos Arenas ’16 design Jean-Carlos Arenas ’16 Zi Xiang Pan ’16 Julia Johnstone ’16 Christina Funk ’15

The bubble within the Bubble Bennett McIntosh columnist

H

ousing, I have a confession to make. I know that my contract stipulates I mustn’t change my living arrangements — by moving my bed or swapping roommates — without your consent. But I no longer live in the Dodge-Osborne single you provided me. Sure, I store my clothes there, but I, along with my 18 classmates in ISC 231-234, have moved to Carl Icahn Laboratories. The sculpture (horsehead? ribosome? whale?) in the atrium is my workspace, the lounge atop the lecture hall hosts my naps and my meals — be they late-lunch or late-night Studio 34 — are eaten on the cafe tables. If not for the lack of a shower, or (more importantly) a cluster printer, the only thing pulling me from Icahn would be my other classes.

This is, in ways, similar to our experience with Princeton itself. To avoid probing questions about ISC or Princeton, I tell people I’m taking “physics,” at “a school in New Jersey.” We even call Icahn’s signature sculpture “the bubble,” in a fitting appropriation of the Orange Bubble metaphor. The stares we get from students passing by the atrium during our late-night problem set

sessions mirror the glances I get from tourists and townspeople alike on campus — both carry the same expression of foreignness, incomprehension and separation. We in Integrated eat together and socialize together; over the summer, nearly half the class will even live together, having taken research positions, mostly within Icahn. We are, then, a bubble within the Bubble — and the similarities run more than skin-deep.

Early in the year, one of my Integrated Science classmates attended a mental health forum — one of September’s many fairs, offering food and clothing in exchange for attention. She filled out a brief questionnaire, detailing her declining sleep habits, difficult coursework and compressed social life. The woman she handed it to immediately started worrying whether my classmate was depressive, until she noted that she was in ISC. The concerned mood immediately evaporated, the woman smiled and said, “Oh, well, you’re just fine then!” and moved on.

We laughed about it afterward, sitting in the sculpture in Icahn atrium, but it hit home because we’ve all worried about it. We joke about how nice it would be if Icahn had cots available for us to stay the night, but the laughter contains some measure of bitterness — too many of us have watched the rising sun light up

Poe Field through the atrium windows.

I’ve noticed we speak of Princeton to friends and relatives at home the same way ISCers speak of Integrated to friends on the outside. No matter how overwhelmed I feel, the same bubbly exclamations burst forth: “Ohmigod, the classes are awesome and the people are awesome and the architecture is incredible, and I love every minute of it!”

Even when the question of difficulty is explicitly raised, it is dismissed with a wave of the hand. “It’s not for everyone, and it swallows up my free time, but it’s worth it!” We complain that our lives are hell, and then, come Preview weekend, do everything we can to get prefrosh to take the path we took.

Why do we complain so much within our communities, then praise them so exuberantly to the outside world?

Unfortunately, part of it is the infamous duck effect — when talking to outsiders, we take on the appearance of floating effortlessly on the water, while paddling desperately beneath the surface.

This pressure to perform effortlessly, even though everyone else is struggling, is insidious and should not be discounted. But often complaints within a group aren’t acknowledgement of struggling so much as a sort of masochistic-one-upmanship. How many times have you had the

conversation: “Oh, your weekend sounds busy — but listen to what I have to do!”?

I think the more important reason, though, is that within our communities, we already take the blessings we have for granted. When complaining within Icahn, within FitzRandolph Gate, we’re among those whose struggles we share, who are less likely to see frustrated venting as humble bragging. Outside, complaining about Princeton would seem ungrateful, absurd and perhaps even outright snobby. Every time I vent to my Integrated classmates, the blow is deadened by the reasons — unspoken but ever-present — that we’re here in the first place. These reasons are, again, strikingly similar to the reason we’re at Princeton: world-class education, opportunities to apply it outside the classroom in exciting ways, interaction with extremely gifted peers and professors.

I try not to lose sight of these perks.

Every time I ask myself despairingly “why am I doing this to myself,” I have an answer ready. It’s the same response I give my non-ISC friends, family over break and prefrosh during Preview: “It’s a daunting challenge, but…”

Bennett McIntosh is a freshman from Littleton, Colo. He can be reached at bam2@ princeton.edu.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

.................................................................

Grade deflation Regarding “Editorial: Reexamining grade deflation” (Monday April 15, 2013): I'm surprised that in all the discussion of grade deflation, there's one sense of deflation that's generally overlooked. I'm

thinking of the administration's seeming disregard for the possibility that faculty might be able to take responsibility for grading without being subjected to threats. It looks as if, despite their distinctions as nationally and internationally recognized teachers and scholars, Princeton faculty

members simply may not be trusted when it comes to determining a grade in a course they've otherwise somehow managed to devise and teach. However aggrieved students may feel about this policy, they should know that it is offensive in the extreme to me and many of my colleagues and should

be reversed before any more harm is done.

Sincerely, Paul Muldoon Howard G.B. Clark ’21 University Professor in the Humanities Professor of Creative Writing

4/15/13 11:51 PM

The Daily Princetonian

Tuesday April 16, 2013

page 5

Mclean leads men with first-place finish TRACK

Continued from page 6

.............

record books for the triple jump over the past seasons, both indoors and out, junior Imani Oliver added another program best of her own on Saturday. Hitting each of her jumps, Oliver leapt to a Princeton outdoor record of 12.71 meters or 41 feet, 8.25 inches. Her jump gave her the victory by over a foot and edged her old mark by eight inches.

Like Barowski, Oliver was not quite expecting such a performance.

“I was just trying to go out there and have fun. We’re still in training mode, so when you’re working hard and lifting all the time, you might not perform so well,” Oliver said. “I had a couple of friends and coaches cheering me on, yelling, ‘Don’t look back; you can do it.’ That was really helpful, and I just went out and got the jump.”

Over the winter, Oliver worked hard on her jumping technique. Results showed, as she set an overall personal best and school indoor record of 12.74 meters at the Ivy League championships in February, taking third. That technique and strength has carried over with her outdoors.

“I’ve been working on my second phase during the indoor season, and I feel like that training is really starting to take effect,” Oliver said. “I actually changed some more just a few

weeks ago, and it was cool to see that it’s starting to manifest itself in my jumping. It’s a good feeling.”

In the record books, Oliver now stands over a foot in front of the next best triple jumper to compete for Princeton. After making the NCAA Regional meet the past two years, Oliver is hoping to make the jump to the national meet and also challenge the Ivy League title.

“I really did not anticipate running that fast... I was really surprised by the time.”

Cecilia Barowski

“If I can stay healthy and keep training, I’m really excited for the rest of the season, trying to make it on to the next level,” Oliver said. “I’m excited to keep going and hopefully get some big jumps in.”

While Barowski’s and Oliver’s records highlighted the meet, the Tigers put down several other quality performances as they started to round into shape.

In the 800m, senior co-captain Greta Feldman ran a new

season best of 2 minutes, 6.97 seconds to place fifth overall.

Classmate Alexis Mikaelian ran 2:09.43 to take 10th overall, while junior Kacie O’Neil took 11th, winning her heat in 2:09.90.

Sophomore Jackie Nicholas took the 3000m steeplechase by over 10 seconds with a time of 10:41.20 — a new personal best.

In the 1500m, senior Mel Newbery ran a strong race to finish sixth overall in 4:25.81.

On the men’s side, junior Damon Mclean had a busy day in the field, as he took first in the long jump and second in the triple jump, clearing 23 feet, 6.25 inches and 50 feet, 7.5 inches, respectively. Behind him in third in the long jump, senior Isaac Serwanga jumped 22 feet, 8.5 inches. A newcomer to the track team, Serwanga has played on both the varsity football and basketball teams.

On the track, junior co-captain Tom Hopkins won the 400m in 47.20 seconds. In the 800m, sophomore Bradley Paternostro ran a season best of 1:50.08 to take 11th overall. Meanwhile, senior Nathan Mathabane ran his fastest race since his return to the track from injury, running 1:51.15 for 14th.

In upcoming action, several of the distance runners will be racing at the highly competitive Mt. SAC Invitational in California later this week. On Friday evening and Saturday, the Tigers will host the Larry Ellis Invitational.

Rugby season to end against Yale RUGBY

Continued from page 6

.............

the squad.

Princeton closes out its season against Yale next Saturday in New Haven.

The winner of this annual matchup receives the Koranda Cup, named in mem-

ory of Rob Koranda ’02. The Orange and Black won last year’s matchup handily by a decision of 54-12. According to Halsey, in preparation for this opponent that the Tigers haven’t yet played this season, they will “keep to what’s been working.”

All signs point to a strong future for Tiger rugby. Con-

fidence remains high, partly stemming from how closely they managed to play Dartmouth, and the team looks to continue moving up in the Ivies in coming years.

In the meantime, they’ll put a big win behind them and look to top the Ivy League rivalry for the second consecutive year.

MEREDIGHT WRIGHT :: ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR EMERITA

The men’s track team had many good individual performances at the George Mason Patriot Open Invitational this past weekend. Next up for the team is the Mt. SAC Invitational in California.

Done reading your ‘Prince’?

Recycle

Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you ... Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!

- Kanye West Buy an ad.

Say what you want.

For more information, contact ‘Prince’ business.

Call (609)258-8110 or Email business@ dailyprincetonian.com

4.16SPORTSUPSTAIRS.indd 5

4/16/13 12:01 AM

Sports

Tuesday April 16, 2013

page 6

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } TRACK

Barowski sets new Princeton record

By Adam Fisch senior writer

In her first open 400-meter race of the outdoor season at the George Mason Patriot Open Invitational in Virginia last Saturday, sophomore Cecilia Barowski did not have high expectations. Still, when the gun sounded, Barowski took off fast. Driving over the final meters, Barowski took fourth in the competitive race, as she stopped the clock in 54.30 seconds — setting a new Prince-

ton program record.

“I really did not anticipate running that fast. I woke up on Friday with an irritated hamstring, and I just wanted to get through the race on Saturday without aggravating the injury,” Barowski said. “I was really surprised by the time.

From the beginning of the season, I knew that I wanted to break the record, but this weekend was a surprise.”

Barowski, who also has set school records indoors in the 4x400m and 500m, as well

as the outdoor 4x400m, took down Agatha Offorjebe ’09’s old best of 54.38. While Barowski’s time is great for early April, she has her sights set even higher.

“I’m still hoping to break 54 this year. If I can run a nice 53 at Heps, I’d be pretty happy,” Barowski said. “I’m glad I broke the record and had a good race, even though I didn’t anticipate it. But I’m definitely not satisfied with that time and am excited to go after it.”

Writing and rewriting the See TRACK page 5

MEREDIGHT WRIGHT :: ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR EMERITA

The women’s track team had several impressive performances as it broke multiple program records.

RUGBY

Tigers trample Penn to finish third in Ivy Tournament

By Andrew Steele conributor

Following a disappointing loss to perennial powerhouse Dartmouth in the Ivy PENN 0 League sem if iPRINCETON 59 nals the previous week, the men’s club rugby team was hungry for a win against Penn in the third-place match this past Friday. It made up for the disappointment with a

resounding statement, winning 59-0.

Senior captain Matt Hepburn noted that the lopsided score line accurately represents the nature of the contest.

“We scored really early on, and for most of the first half, we were in their half of the pitch,” he said. “The score line does ref lect how well we played.”

Princeton scored off of its very first possession.

Standout senior f ly-half Phil Halsey chalked up this overwhelming result to “a whole team effort” in which all positions took care of their assignments on offense and defense. Even in a weekend where “everything clicked,” he noted that the Tigers could have put up an even higher score had they capitalized on a few lost opportunities.

Hepburn explained that the forwards managed to

deny Penn in scrums, which is the restarting of a play after an accidental infringement or the ball has gone out of play, and set-pieces, which are similar to throwins in soccer. Additionally, senior center Will Schleier added two tries in what was his last match in the Orange and Black.

The Tigers scored nine tries with seven-for-nine conversions — each try equaling five points with

subsequent conversions of two points — and allowed zero points, which was surprising considering the 33-33 draw against Penn in their previous encounter.

Freshman scrum-half Mike Rice noted that Princeton failed to capitalize on its halftime lead in its previous fixture.

The Tigers have made great strides in the months since their last encounter, however. Remarkably, Fri-

day’s win wasn’t the highest-scoring outing this season for the Tigers, as they managed a 103-7 victory over Hofstra.

“We’ve worked really hard this off-season and in-season, doing a lot of extra fitness and lifting,” Hepburn said of the steps the team has been taking. He added that the spring break trip to the Cayman Islands helped build camaraderie among See RUGBY page 5

THE

AROUND I V I E S The top two teams in the league both lost this past weekend, and teams on the brink of elimination kept their playoff hopes alive. Despite only one or two conference games left per team, every team still has a shot at the conference tournament. Below, we try to make sense of the race so far:

1.

Cornell (10-2 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) The only Ivy team undefeated in the league, No. 6 Cornell has taken down Yale and Harvard on the road and was one goal away from defeating now No. 3 Syracuse on the road, where the Orange needed a fourth-quarter comeback to take down the Big Red. Cornell’s scoring leaders are Steve Mock and Rob Pannell, who are first and third in the Ivy League in goals, respectively.

2.

Yale (7-3, 3-2) While they have not separated themselves from the rest of the league in many statistical categories, the No. 15 Bulldogs have allowed the second fewest goals of any team in the Ivy League. They lost to Princeton and Cornell early in the season but have won their last three league games and are practically guaranteed a spot in the Ivy tournament, as no team with three wins has ever missed it.

3.

Princeton (7-4, 2-2) After silencing critics of their young defense with quality wins early in the season, the No. 13 Tigers have lost two Ivy games by a combined two points. Junior midfielder Tom Schreiber leads the team in points with 45, while junior attack Mike MacDonald has the most goals (27). Still searching for a critical third league victory after being upset by Dartmouth last weekend, Princeton will need to defeat Harvard at home or take down Cornell on the road in a highly anticipated match that will cap off the regular season.

4.

Harvard (6-6, 2-2) The Crimson kept its Ivy tournament hopes alive over the weekend with an overtime win over Penn. Goalie Harry Krieger leads the league in saves with 139, and Harvard will need him to be on top of his game if it hopes to make the tournament, as it will finish the regular season with a road trip to Princeton and a tough rivalry game at home against Yale.

5.

Penn (6-4, 2-3) The No. 18 Quakers are ranked high in the country but are not a lock for the Ivy tournament. Though they proved their ability with an 11-10 defeat of Princeton last month, they shot themselves in the foot with this weekend’s loss to Harvard, and, although they will be favored to beat Dartmouth, nothing can be taken for granted after the Big Green’s upset of Princeton on Saturday.

6.

Brown (5-5, 1-3) Apart from a 11-9 defeat of Harvard, this has not been Brown’s year. The Bears have lost four in a row and will try to correct this against Providence this week before hosting Cornell and traveling to Dartmouth, both of which will be difficult must-wins for the Bears to have any shot at extending their season.

7.

Dartmouth (3-8, 1-3) The team with the worst record in the league is a long shot to make the tournament, but this weekend proved that anything can happen. Chris Costabile has 19 goals, the most of anyone on the Big Green, but he is one of just two Dartmouth players who have scored in the double digits this season.

Quotable

Tomorrow

Follow us

‘My heart goes out to everyone in Boston right now. Hoping for the best for all’

John Wolfe profiles Sydney Kirby who plays for both the field hockey and golf teams.

Prince Sports is now on Twitter!

Follow us at

Justin Frick, assistant coach on the track team (@hjfrick)

4.16SPORTSUPSTAIRS.indd 6

www.twitter.com/princesports

for live news and reports!

4/16/13 12:01 AM